


The Wrench

by useyourtelescope (thedreamygirl)



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Style, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:05:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8819869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamygirl/pseuds/useyourtelescope
Summary: Amy Santiago wants to prove herself to her new Captain, while Jake Peralta just wants to catch his nemesis once and for all. There’s no reason they can’t work together to achieve both goals – right?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catfishCaper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catfishCaper/gifts).



> This takes place in a slight AU where the events of the Pontiac Bandit episodes in seasons 1 & 2 occur, but Amy is not part of the Nine-Nine.  
> Many thanks to htbthomas for the beta!

_Monday morning_

 

It wasn’t that Jake didn’t think Detective Santiago was good at her job. Jake knew her arrest record, and after she left her job interview with Holt, the Captain had actually claimed she was “satisfactory”, before insisting they never repeat that in case someone find out he heaped so much “praise” on one candidate prior to completing all the interviews.

 

It wasn’t even about that first night they met at Gina's birthday party, when Jake was one drink away from gaining the courage to ask Amy out on a date and her boyfriend showed up. That was a long time ago and he wasn’t really into her like that. It was nothing more than a passing, alcohol-induced, thought; it didn’t really matter.

 

What did matter was that Doug Judy was Jake’s nemesis so Jake had to be the one to bring him down. That was just fact.

 

“I think _nemesis_ is a little strong,” Amy said, eying him critically from her seat opposite him in the meeting room. “Wasn’t he Rosa’s collar first time he got brought in anyway?”

 

“That’s not the point!” Jake exclaimed. “He wronged me, and I must have my revenge.”

 

“We’re cops, Peralta,” she told him, a hint of exasperation creeping into her voice. “Revenge doesn’t come into it. Regardless of Judy’s involvement, this chop shop case is still mine, as per Captain Holt’s instructions. And if Judy really is back we just need to make sure he goes to jail.”

 

“That’s my goal too!”

 

“Great! So if we’re working to the same goal, why does it matter whether you’re lead on this case or not?”

 

"Because he’s my nemesis!” When Amy rolled her eyes, Jake tried to reason, “Would McClane have sat back and let some other cop take down Gruber?"

 

"There was no one else around to take Gruber down, isn't that the whole point of the movie? Also, McClane isn’t that great a cop. I bet he doesn’t even know what half the standard protocols are."

Jake gasped, torn between utter horror at her insult of his hero and delight that she immediately knew what he was talking about. Horror won out, but only just. “You take that back!”

 

Amy’s patented eye roll made another appearance, and she looked as if she was about to respond until her gaze settled somewhere behind Jake’s shoulder. “Boyle?” she said, causing Jake to turn around to follow her gaze as well.

 

When Captain Holt had dismissed everyone from his morning briefing Jake had been too busy arguing with Amy over who was taking point on the chop shop case to follow anyone out the room. Still, he hadn’t realised they weren’t the only ones left.

 

“What are you still doing there?” Amy wondered.

 

Boyle’s serene smile widened as he leaned forward in his seat at the back, fingers steepled together under his chin. “Oh, don’t mind me. Continue, please.”

 

Amy’s confused frown said it all, while Jake dropped his forehead to his chair in frustration. He knew he should never have told Boyle about his crush on Santiago – _former_ crush, he corrects himself. He’d barely even thought about her since that party, until he heard she applied for the job at the Nine-Nine. Besides, even if he did still have a crush of her – which he did not – it was not cool to hit on your new colleague, no matter how single she currently was (something he’d accidentally overheard, and not information he’d been out seeking at all). Amy was part of the Nine-Nine now and Jake thought she was a good desk mate who fit in well with the team (her insistence on keeping the Judy case aside), and he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. If only there was an easy way to get Boyle to move past the point of knowing Jake had a crush on someone. Boyle was Jake’s best friend and even he was a little creeped out by the glint in Boyle’s eye.

 

“Don’t you have a case to work on, Boyle?” Jake prompted.

 

“Nope.”

 

Amy tilted her head, recalling, “Didn’t Captain Holt just assign you one?”

 

“Did he?” Boyle replied in the same calm tone.

 

 “Yeah, buddy. The murder at the hardware store?”

 

“Oh, yeah, crap,” Boyle said, standing so quickly his knees knocked into the desk. “I should get to work.”

 

As Boyle scurried past them, Jake returned his attention to Amy. “And I’ll get back to work on my Doug Judy case.”

 

She raised an eyebrow at him critically. “Work on it all you like, Peralta. It’s still my case.”

 

Was Jake too mature to make a mocking face at her back when she left the room? Of course he was – but he still did it anyway.

 

*

 

_Tuesday afternoon_

 

It wasn’t as if Amy _needed_ any help solving the chop shop case – aside from the suspicious involvement of Doug Judy, the case itself seemed straight-forward enough. It was simply a matter of putting all the pieces together.

 

And it’s not like Jake Peralta would have been her first choice of secondary even if she did. He had a good record, sure, but in her few weeks at the Nine-Nine she’d mainly partnered with Rosa and Terry, and Amy felt she was developing a good rapport with both (well, as far as anyone could say that they had a rapport with Detective Diaz, good or otherwise).

 

But if Amy was going to show Captain Holt exactly what she could really do, it wouldn’t hurt to speed things up by getting help from a colleague; especially one as obsessed with solving the case as Jake was. Not to mention, the Captain had expressly stated for Jake to be included on the case. True, that had only been because of Peralta’s whining that the case should have been given to him once the Doug Judy connection had been made, but whatever the reason, Holt might think she wasn’t very good at following orders if she didn’t make more of an effort with Peralta.

 

That was the main reason she told Jake, “I think we should work together.”

 

Jake nearly spilt soda on his shirt at Amy’s declaration, but managed to catch the can before it overturned. Despite the fumble, he was smirking when he looked up at her. “So, you’ve got nothing and you want my help.”

 

Rolling her eyes, Amy slammed her binder down on his desk, making him jump. She didn’t use much force; it was just that hefty. “I’ve got plenty,” she said pointedly. “I just think it’s smarter that we pool our resources. I mean…” Amy sighed before grudgingly admitting, “This is my first big case since being at the Nine-Nine.”

 

“So? You’ve worked tons of big cases before,” Jake said easily, which surprised her. She didn’t think he knew much about her case history. Still, it didn’t surprise her into being completely honest with him.

 

“I know, but I want this one to go well.” It was the truth, just not all of it. A good detective needed to know the distinction.

 

Unfortunately, Jake Peralta was also a good detective. “You want to impress Captain Holt,” he said, a little smug.

 

Amy stood firm. “I just want to do my job well. And you are supposed to the secondary on this case so it doesn’t make any sense for us to keep working it separately.”

 

His grin widened. “You _so_ want to impress Holt.”

 

“Alright, so what if I do,” Amy snapped. “Look, you said Judy is your nemesis, do you want to get him or not?”

 

“Okay, fine. But Judy is mine.”

  
“Fine.”

 

“Fine,” Jake shot back with a little more vehemence than she’d expected. He seemed to realise the same after a moment, when he added, “Oh wait, you agreed with me.”

 

Amy nodded. “Yeah.” Any further comment was interrupted by a gleeful giggle to her left.

 

Amy had been somewhat wary of Detective Boyle when he initially introduced himself as Gina’s “former lover and future brother” (a sentence that had been punctuated by Gina smacking him on the head). That wariness had faded after working her first case at the Nine-Nine with the man, but she still hadn’t gotten used to his many weird habits, like listening in on other people’s conversations – mainly Jake’s now that she thought about it.

 

“Do you need a hand with your case, Boyle?” Jake called over, face taut.

 

“Already solved it,” he replied, “Guy’s business partner bludgeoned him with a wrench from their shop.”

 

Amy and Jake both grimaced in unison, though Amy couldn’t help but follow it up with chuckle.

 

“Oh, so, murder is humorous to you, is it?” Jake joked, looking back up at her. “I suppose if we find a bunch of bodies in the stolen cars from our case you’ll be in hysterics?”

 

Amy shook her head. It was a little in poor taste but she was amused. “It’s just, you know, a _wrench_. It’s like Colonel Mustard, with the wrench, in the library.” She was pleased when Jake smiled back at her appreciating the comment. “Just you know in this case, it was the hardware store.”

 

“Yeah, and that gives you a whole other range of tools. Next thing you know it’ll be Professor Plum, with the plug socket,” Jake suggested. “Or Miss Scarlet with the hinges.”

 

Amy let out a full chuckle “She killed someone with hinges?”

 

Jake nodded, all mock seriousness. “Hey, Scarlet is crafty.” They shared a smile, when Jake suddenly seemed to get hold of himself and straightened in his chair, clearing his throat. “Uh, so you were saying about the case?”

  
“Right,” Amy said, shaking her head. “I figured we’d start with trading our information so far. Where are your files on Judy?”

 

Jake opened a drawer and placed a thin cardboard folder on the desk, causing Amy’s stomach to sink. “That’s it? This is all you have on your _nemesis_?”

 

“You’re forgetting everything I have up here,” he gestured to his head. Amy had nearly given up when he added, “Plus everything that’s in my car. I’ve been hiding some things in there so you didn’t find them.”

 

It certainly explained the lack of hard copy evidence in the case files. “Seriously, Peralta!”

 

“Please don’t tell Captain Holt on me?” he pleaded.

 

She glared at him all the way to his car and back to their desks, but once they sat down and started sorting through the files Amy began to feel hopeful. “This is very promising.”

 

“Really?” Jake looked up from his side to ask, “You’ve already solved it?”

 

“Oh, no, I was talking about your organisation skills. There may be some hope for you yet,” she said earnestly, only remembering to feel embarrassed when Jake inclined his head in what felt like slight judgement. The small smirk on his lips stopped her from dropping some of her favourite binder sorting tips. He clearly didn’t deserve the knowledge.

 

*

 

_Thursday afternoon_

 

It only took them a few days to put most of the pieces together. The chop shop had actually been started by a former associate of Judy’s, but when Judy got wind of the scheme he decided to get back in on the action. Jake didn’t really understand why the man didn’t just set up elsewhere, but apparently the pull of New York was worth risking jail time for.

 

Plus, “I needed to see my mama, man!” Doug Judy exclaimed mournfully from his seat, handcuffed to a chair in the middle of an empty warehouse. Amy and Jake had arrived minutes earlier expecting to find a bunch of newly stolen cars, but to Jake’s delight it turned out the mysterious cargo the warehouse had been hiding was Judy himself. Amy had left to investigate the rest of the building while Jake, at his own insistence, had stayed to watch over Judy. Charles had been in the area and so was the first to respond to their call for backup, following their struggle with Judy and his two associates, and Jake had begun briefing the detective on the situation when Judy decided to add his side to the story. “I missed her, okay?” Judy added, “I thought you, my best friend, would understand.”

 

Jake shook his head but his comeback was interrupted by Charles’ cry of, “Best friend?” Looking over his shoulder, Jake saw Charles turning his head between Jake and Judy, before repeating, even more woefully, “ _Best friend_?”

 

“Charles, not now,” Jake said, about to turn back to Judy, but Boyle wasn’t having it.

 

The man frowned, crossing his arms. “So you admit it then.”

 

“No, of course not, Boyle, now is not –“

 

“It’s okay man,” Judy interrupted this time. “This is a safe space.”

 

“Seriously?” Jake glared at Judy. “Are you just trying to avoid talking about the fact that I’ve finally caught you and you’re going to jail now for a very long time?”

 

“It seems like you’re the one trying to avoid talking about something,” Boyle countered.

 

“Preach,” Judy chimed in.

 

“What is happening?!”

 

“Peralta!” Jake turned around at the call, thankful for the distraction. Amy was stood at the far end of the room. “I’m going to check the west side, you and Boyle got everything covered in there?”

 

She’d offered to be the one to sweep the rest of the building, after they’d tied all three men up, which he had been grateful for so he could be keep an eye on Judy, and he was even more grateful now Santiago wasn’t near them. He had never thought of Amy as scary before he saw her take down Judy’s associates. Amy still wasn’t terrifying on a Rosa scale, but standing on the threshold with her shirt sleeve still torn from the tussle and her steely gaze, she looked like she had emerged victorious from some battle; there was no way Jake was telling her their colleague and their perp were arguing over which of them was Jake’s best friend.

 

“Everything’s great Detective Santiago, thank you for asking!”

 

He knew he sounded a little too chipper, which Amy no doubt had noticed, but they had work to do. She spared him her shortest withering look yet before continuing out of the room.

 

“So who is your best friend then, Jake? Me or this _criminal_?” Boyle sulked, hands on hips.

 

“Boyle,” Jake began, but to his surprise Judy tried to comfort Boyle as well.

 

“It’s okay, man,” Judy said breezily, as if he wasn’t in handcuffs. “We can both be Jake’s best friend.”

 

“That’s just ridiculous, you only have one best friend.”

 

“No, it’s like my girl Mindy from Mindy Project says, best friend is a tier. So it just means we’re both on Jake’s top tier.”

 

Jake rolled his eyes, “Come on, you guys –“

 

“Well, Mindy obviously knows nothing!” Boyle exclaimed.

 

“How dare you!”

 

“Okay, now that’s enough!” Any further reprimand died on Jake’s lips when he heard Amy cry out. “Santiago?” he called. “Amy?!”

 

When there was no response to him or Charles, Jake rounded on Judy, “What are you up to, Judy?”

 

“I keep telling you, man, I was just here scouting the building for a potential business opportunity. Maybe she just tripped.” Judy shrugged.

 

“Don’t take your eyes off him,” Jake warned Charles before taking off in Amy’s direction. He had just stepped out the room and had barely any time to be worried about Amy when there was a sharp thud on the back of his head. The last coherent thought he had before he passed out was: _Is that a_ wrench _?_

 

*

 

_Still Thursday_

 

When Amy came to it was with Jake Peralta’s head resting on her shoulder, eyes closed in what looked like a peaceful sleep. Her slight movements caused Jake’s head to shift into the crook of her neck, his surprisingly soft lips gracing the skin at her open collar.

 

The sensation was enough to startle her fully awake. “Peralta!” she yelled, jerking away from him. “Wake up.”

 

“Amy?” he said, groggy. “Amy! Are you okay?” he asked, recovering.

 

“Aside from having a massive headache and being trapped in a closet?” Amy’s eyes flitted around the small space in the hopes of finding anything useful.

 

“Well, let’s not jump to conclusions, Detective. We may not be _trapped_.” Jake yelled out for help and pushed at the door frame, first with his hands and then his feet, before sliding back down against the wall again. “Okay, so now we’ve established we’re definitely trapped.”

 

Amy took a deep breath, standing up. “Okay. Let’s not panic.”

 

“Sure. This is nothing to panic over,” Jake said, dry.

 

“Exactly.” Amy nodded to herself and tried to pace but the tiny box-shaped closet did not allow her the room, so it was more like moving in a circle in the same spot. “We’ll be fine. We had already called for backup so more help will be on the way even if Charles can’t get to us – but, by then Judy will be probably be in the wind and have had time to warn everyone else involved so yeah, I’m going to get fired.”

  
“You won’t get fired,” Jake said, though Amy didn’t think he was really paying attention since he followed it up by kicking at the door and yelling, “I will find you, Judy! You can’t hide from me forever!”

 

Ignoring him, Amy continued her line of thought. “And even if he doesn’t fire me now, Captain Holt will think I’m a terrible detective, which frankly is just as bad. I mean, I got knocked out with a wrench –“

 

“Speaking of which,” Jake interrupted to kick at the offending item on the ground, which she had been trying to ignore. After her silly joke the other day, Amy felt like the object was mocking her. “Why did they leave the weapon with us?”

 

Jake’s question sparked some ideas in Amy’s head. “We must not be far from where we were attacked, so maybe they just threw it in here with us to tidy up?”

 

“Only you would think it was for tidying up.”

 

“Just because you like to leave a mess, Peralta, doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Tidying up means less trail of evidence, so longer for backup to find us, which means longer for them to get away – although,” she realised, worryingly, “that does mean that Charles should have heard us by now if he was okay.”

 

“Charles is wily, and Judy won’t hurt him.”

 

Amy raised an eyebrow, pointedly looking at the site of his injury. “And what do you call what happened to us?”

 

“Okay, maybe a little, but I know he won’t hurt him badly. Judy’s a criminal, but he’s not a murder-y criminal. We didn’t hear any shots fired did we?”

 

“That’s real comforting,” Amy stated, dry. “I’ll just tell Captain Holt, ‘ _I let all the criminals get away, but it’s okay because nobody got shot’_.”

 

“You need to worry less about what Holt’s going to say. I’ve lost Judy twice before, and he’s not fired me.” It should have been a poor attempt at cheering her up, but it did serve to remind Amy she wasn’t the only one with something to lose on this case.

 

Amy sat back down next to him before saying, “I’m sorry.” She was as far away as she could be from him without touching, but in the narrow space the distance wasn’t much. When Jake turned to look at her Amy observed the genuine confusion on his face.

 

“For what?”

 

“We’ve lost your nemesis. I can’t imagine you ever want to work with me again,” she admitted, a little sadly.

 

“Sure I do. You know I was thinking – we make a good team.”

 

Amy laughed. She could admit to herself that she enjoyed working with Peralta the last few days – much more than she had expected – but their results couldn’t be considered good, by any standards. “Jake, we got knocked out and trapped in a closet, potentially ruined the entire case and we don’t even know what happened to Charles.”

  
“True, but before all of that, we did good.” Amy was not convinced and it must have shown on her face as Jake continued, “Things might have gone a little south, but we put everything together really quick. You know,” Jake paused, and Amy could see him struggling before he admitted, “both times I’ve come close to getting Judy, it’s not really been anything I’ve done.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jake sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “Rosa bought him in on identity theft the first time; we just straight up found him in the street the second. I’ve never been able to actually _track_ him down.”

 

“Oh.” Amy had read up on the incidents, so she knew those facts already, but she had never interpreted them the way Jake seemed to: as a failure on his part. No wonder he had been so determined the last few days. “Well. Now you have.”

 

“Right,” he nodded. “But I couldn’t have done it without your help.” It was probably the close quarters reverberating sound that made it seem like Jake’s voice had lowered, but it was suddenly distracting to Amy.

 

She tried to give him a natural smile when she said, “I guess we do make a good team.” Jake smiled back and it was nice – maybe a little too nice, Amy thought. She had been knocked out and trapped in a closet; she shouldn’t be feeling charmed by her colleague’s smile, no matter how open he was being with her. This was a highly inappropriate time to be experiencing anything resembling warmth so Amy did the only thing she could think of to break the moment. “So, how about we work together to bring Judy and his gang down, once and for all,” she suggested and thrust her hand out to him.

 

Jake laughed, glancing down at her palm before back up to her face. “Oh, so we gotta shake on it?”

 

“Of course,” Amy said, with fake confidence.

 

“Yeah, okay.”

 

It wasn’t any of the best handshake positions Amy learnt in her seminar, but she did her best with the limited space. It was fine, really: a nice, albeit slightly silly moment, between two colleagues who would maybe become friends. Amy thought it wouldn’t look anything other than completely professional.

 

Until the closet door swung open to reveal a slightly bruised and sheepish-looking Charles. Behind him stood Rosa, that all-knowing glint in her eye. “Seriously? You got trapped in a closet and you’re just holding hands?”

 

Or not.


End file.
